Ch.79Return to the Beginning (4)

“Huh?!”

Kareni covered her mouth with her hand, and Amila unconsciously clutched her priest robes tightly.

Having traveled with Alreina for months since the demon army days, these two knew better than anyone what kind of person “uncle” was to her.

“What are you saying?”

Rather, only Alreina, the person directly concerned, failed to understand those words and calmly asked again.

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand, but rather that she couldn’t readily accept it.

“Jack is dead… He got caught in an accident during an adventure…”

While staying in the city to help with advancement, Blanchard had heard about Alreina from Jack several times.

About a girl who traveled across the continent, defeating things like the Scarlet Dragon.

Her starting point had been Jack’s Potion Shop, where he had given her plenty of items to help with her adventures.

He received letters periodically, though they became more sporadic as the distance between them grew.

Blanchard knew that Jack sent replies too, but lamented that they probably wouldn’t reach her.

That’s why Blanchard felt uncomfortable telling Alreina, no longer a girl but a silver-haired warrior who had grown too much to be called a child, about Jack’s death.

“That can’t be possible. You must be mistaking him for someone else.”

Alreina let out an awkward laugh.

“The name Jack is common. The Hans Adventure Guild posted recruitment notices throughout the empire, right? There must have been several people named Jack among those who came to the guild. Right?”

When Blanchard didn’t answer, Alreina’s eyes trembled.

“Alreina. Let’s deal with the injured people first, since they mentioned there are wounded.”

Amila grabbed Alreina’s arm and pulled her along.

As she was dragged down the corridor by Amila, Alreina thought to herself.

Uncle is dead? That’s impossible.

Uncle knows everything. How could someone like that die?

He would know everything about the south, so there’s no reason he would have gone on an adventure.

That mage must be mistaken.

Most mages are self-centered and don’t care about others.

So they probably don’t even know who’s dead, who’s alive, or what their names are.

That mage must be confused.

As they continued down the corridor, a large space suddenly appeared.

It was a place with an arched ceiling stretching long to the left and right, with caves of unknown length extending on both sides.

Under the light of luminous bodies attached to the ceiling, numerous people were sitting or lying down.

Among them were many who were covered in blood and appeared to be on the verge of death.

“Oh no.”

Amila let out a groan and hurried forward.

“What happened here?” Kareni asked.

Blanchard shook her head. “I’m not sure. We’d like to know that too.”

“Hero! Let’s help them too!”

Alreina pushed aside thoughts of her uncle and joined Amila in tending to the patients.

Along with medical knowledge gained from years of travel, Alreina had numerous Healing Potions.

That’s because uncle had written down the formula for Healing Potions in the strategy guide, asking her to keep it absolutely secret.

“Sigh, this one… will be difficult…”

Amila expressed concern upon seeing a patient whose arm below the elbow was mangled like minced meat.

“I can keep them alive, but I can’t restore the arm.”

“It can’t be helped…”

Blanchard knelt beside the patient with a grim expression.

“Your Majesty. A holy priest has arrived. You’ll be fine now.”

“Your Majesty…?”

“This is King Beona Tanyashan of the Tanyashan Kingdom.”

“Well, this is something.”

* * * * *

With the help of Alreina’s group, the critically injured patients were able to survive by the skin of their teeth.

And Alreina was able to hear everything from Blanchard.

“It didn’t start badly. We had sufficient supplies, and everyone’s morale was sky-high.”

The Hans Adventure Guild was a front guild for the Tanyashan Kingdom.

It was a ghost guild created to avoid the empire’s eyes while exploring the uncharted southern regions and monopolizing whatever was found there.

The expedition team numbered one hundred and fifty, an incredible size that ordinary guilds couldn’t even dream of.

“Of course, only half remain now…”

The expedition team passed through the southern gate of the starting city and continued to advance.

“At first, there was nothing special. The natural environment was similar, and no dangerous things appeared. But at some point, something became strange.”

After going quite far, they reached a point where they needed to resupply.

Blanchard tried to open a dimensional door to the starting city as planned.

“But it wouldn’t open.”

“That’s right. A dimensional door can be opened if you know the coordinates of the exit. But for some reason, it wouldn’t open. More precisely, I couldn’t use magic.”

“Is, is that even possible?” Kareni stammered.

“Magical energy exists everywhere in the world…”

“In theory, yes. But there was no magical energy where we entered. The concentration of magic had thinned so gradually that we didn’t notice.”

“How could that happen…”

“Thinking further advancement would be difficult, we decided to turn back. But we couldn’t even do that.”

“What?! What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. We tried to go back, but there was no way back. We kept circling the same place. Endlessly.”

When they went north, they encountered the place they had just passed through.

After dozens of attempts, the expedition team had to acknowledge they were trapped.

“Whether space-time was twisted or it was the trick of something evil, we couldn’t tell. Our food supplies dwindled, and there was nothing around us. No monsters to hunt or things to gather. Nothing.”

“What did uncle do? He would have known some way out.”

Blanchard shook her head.

“Jack said he didn’t know anything. By then, we had already used up all the potion ingredients we brought, and Jack was in despair.”

“He said he didn’t know anything?”

“Yes. He kept repeating that he knew nothing about the southern continent.”

Uncle didn’t know something? How is that possible?

“And then…?”

“After wandering for a long time, we finally discovered an artificial structure. It was a door and corridor leading underground, just like here. Judging we could escape the scorching sun of the day and the extreme cold of the night, we entered. And…”

“And?”

“The inside had the exact same structure as here. Going deeper, we found caves extending endlessly to the left and right. And there was that being.”

“What being?”

But Blanchard, as if unwilling to answer further, closed her mouth and trembled.

“After meeting that being… half of us died… And Jack too…”

“Then how did you end up here? This is the northern continent.”

“I don’t know. Suddenly, there was a loud noise and light exploded from the end of the cave. We were caught in it, and when I came to my senses, we had fallen here.”

Blanchard spoke as if she herself couldn’t believe it.

Alreina asked again, pinning her last hope.

“Then you might have lost track of uncle in the confusion.”

“Jack is dead…”

“There’s no evidence. You said everyone was in chaos.”

“If you must see evidence… follow me…”

Blanchard walked past the people toward the other side.

Following Blanchard, Alreina noticed a much lower ground beside them than where the expedition survivors were.

About as low as an adult woman’s height, there was something bizarre she had never seen before.

It was long iron frames laid parallel on the floor. Both ends extended into the dark caves on the left and right.

What could that be…

“Here it is. The evidence.”

Blanchard stopped and pointed to a corner.

There, something very ominous covered with straw mats was placed.

Having gone through countless battlefields, Alreina immediately recognized them as corpses.

Blanchard lifted one of the mats, and Alreina looked at the corpse impassively.

It was uncle.

Uncle, who had turned pale beyond whiteness, was lying with his eyes half-open.

Alreina removed the mat completely herself.

“Ugh…”

Kareni covered her mouth and turned away at the sight of only the upper body remaining, with the lower half gone.

“Amila.”

Alreina called Amila in a calm voice.

“Resurrect him.”

“There’s no such thing, Alreina…”

“There is. Bringing a corpse back to life.”

“That’s not holy power but black magic. And it’s not reviving, it’s just a cursed ritual that makes corpses move.”

“We don’t know for sure if it just makes them move or brings them back with will.”

“Alreina. Why are you… You know this too…”

Alreina knelt beside Jack’s corpse and slowly bent her upper body.

“Uncle…”

There was no answer, of course.

“Uncle… stop joking…”

Alreina caressed Jack’s cheek and finally realized from the coldness felt through her palm.

Uncle was dead.

Uncle… is dead…?

“Gasp?! Everyone, step back!” Amila shouted, noticing the bizarre aura rising from Alreina’s hunched back.

* * * * *

“Brother, look at this.”

While I was minding the shop for the first time in a while, Mirella came in carrying something.

She dumped dozens of envelopes onto the counter.

I thought they might be from Alreina, but they were actually letters I had written.

Looking through them, I found everything from my first reply to Alreina to my most recent ones.

“They were returned. They say they’ve been holding onto them because they couldn’t be delivered, and now they’re returning them all at once.”

“Ah, I see. Thanks.”

Mirella turned around without responding and went upstairs.

I feel bad for Mirella about this.

I neatly organized the pile of envelopes and put them in a drawer.

So none of them were properly delivered.

Well, Alreina keeps getting farther away, so they couldn’t have reached her.

If she happens to come back later, I’ll show them to her then. Though it probably won’t mean much.

I wonder what Alreina is doing now. No letters from her either.

But she’s already past the demon army part, so there’s no chance of her turning evil now.

In the game, the fate of the world changes depending on what choices Alreina makes.

But that won’t happen now.

I’ve blocked routes involving betrayal or corruption in advance, making sure everything follows the official scenario.

It’s fortunate that I possessed Jack at the right time.

If I had possessed him after Alreina left the village, I would have been constantly anxious about when the world might suddenly end.